Urban renewal plan will transform Sibu into world-class city – Deputy Premier
SIBU: A proper urban renewal plan would turn Sibu into a world-class city, said Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian.
According to him, the Sunway Group Property and Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers Association (Sheda) Sibu had pledged their commitment to work alongside with the state government for the Sibu urban renewal plan.
Dr Sim, who is also the Minister for Public Health, Housing and Local Government, said this at the Sibu Municipal Council (SMC)’s Chinese New Year celebration at University of Technology Sarawak (UTS) here yesterday.
The state government, he said, had engaged the Ramboll Group - an international engineering, design and consultancy company, to study and come up with the urban renewal plan for Sibu.
“The government allocated a substantial amount of money for this project and the consultancy alone cost more than RM20 million,” he said, while calling for the local consultants to seize this project opportunity, to work together and gain experience from it.
The urban renewal plan, he added, proved the government’s commitment towards statebuilding, in alignment with Sarawak’s Post Covid-19 Development Strategy 2030 (PCDS).
Thus, he sought the people’s understanding that it would take time for the plan to materialise.
For achieving impressive growth, Dr Sim said the state government was prepared to spend RM750 million a year to allow 25,000 local students to study for free in state-owned universities.
“Yes, it is a bit tough at the moment, but by 2030 and in future, we will see a different Sarawak, and other people will be jealous of us,” he said.